They will have, or be open to having, more than one romantic relationship at a time, with the knowledge and consent of all their partners.

Everyone involved will be in agreement that it’s OK for each person to be open to or have other romantic partners.

Here is everything you need to know.

Isn’t polyamory basically cheating? Or swinging?

A polyamorous relationship won’t involve having a partner on the side, or someone that others don’t know about – that’s what the definition of cheating is.

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You can’t be sleeping with your boss while your husband’s away on business and say you’re poly – that’s cheating.

Swinging has a different focus to polyamory, as that is based around people meeting up for recreational sex – although friendships and deeper bonds can develop.

With polyamory, deep relationships are the focus – although the sex is often fun.

Isn’t saying you’re poly just a way of saying you can’t commit?

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Nope – the opposite is actually the case.

Those who are poly remain committed to one partner when another person comes along – whereas those who are monogamous will often practice serial monogamy.

In other words, they will jump from lover to lover, while poly people doesn’t involve the discarding of any lovers.

Doesn’t being poly get complicated?

It can do, depending on the nature of the relationship.

There can be primary and secondary relationships, where the primary couple will determine a set of ground rules for who sees who, and when.

This isn’t always the case, as some people don’t like having a hierarchy, where some people have a higher ranking than others.

However, being a primary partner can simply mean you’ve been with one particular person longer than you have with your other partners.

The most important rule in poly relationships is to communicate, so that any complications don’t explode.

Don’t you get jealous?

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

This varies from person to person. Some will believe that everyone must get jealous to a certain extent, and may deal with this by not wanting to know about any other partners – but this can lead to problems further down the line, as communication is key to making a poly relationship work.

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However, for the most part, people will believe that it’s possible to love and be attracted to more than one person – and any feelings of jealousy should be addressed as and when they occur.

It’s important for those in a poly relationship to make their lovers feel wanted or needed – if someone sees their partner treating another one in a different way, this will naturally lead to feelings of inadequacy or jealousy.

The concept of being poly and loving multiple people can be compared to a parent having multiple children – a mother or father will love all of their children equally, and not have more love for one child than another.

This is because the brain has the capacity to love more than one person – which is how poly people operate.

What are the benefits of a poly relationship?

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

You can experience a unique and lasting love with more than one person, which opens you up to lots of different experiences with multiple people.

If you’re feeling down, or need support, you’ll have more than one loving partner to turn to – which will add increased comfort and reassurance.

It’s also a good setup for those who like to get creative in bed – with everyone being into different things in the bedroom, a person who wants to try lots of things can get experimental with more than one person, and learn things from multiple lovers.

What are the risks with being poly?

Having more than two people in your love life can be a source of stress – there is more potential for disagreements, arguments and tension, which can be more difficult and lead to more time spent patching up any rows.

Making sure everyone’s needs are met, supporting all people involved, and sticking to a schedule of when you see certain people, can be time-consuming and restrictive.

Not following the rules laid out in a poly relationship can lead to bigger repercussions than if you just had one partner – as there are more people involved in the consequences.

It’s also emotionally riskier – as opening up your heart to more people means you’re more likely to have your heart broken.

How do you become polyamorous?

Dedicated dating sites will offer poly friendly relationships, where people will start out in a poly setup.

Other situations involve a single person entering another’s established poly relationship, and becoming part of the dynamic.

Or you can transform a monogamous relationship into a poly one, although this can be harder and will take time.